Express Tribune: Terrorism after Bilour’s death by Khaled Ahmad and comments by Abdul Alim
The Taliban have killed Bashir Bilour, one of the top leaders of the ANP in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. In the aftermath, ANP leaders have said some bitter things about how Pakistan interprets terrorism in the country.
They insist that it is the Taliban we have to fight, not America. In other words, the enemy is not the trio of America, India and Israel, but the home-grown terrorists led by Hakimullah Mehsud under the tutelage of al Qaeda.
No one is going to listen. It suits all the political parties to avoid looking terrorism in the eye. In the coming elections, the three ‘secular’ allies — the PPP, ANP, MQM — are going to be targeted. Their voters may not even turn up for voting. The others don’t want to be in the bad books of the terrorists. They will insist that Bashir Bilour was killed because Pakistan was siding with America; get out of this evil connection and terrorism will go away. The media will run away once again with this miracle mithridatic potion.
Editor’s Comments: Only committed voters not threatened by extremists will turn out to vote. This will mean a clean win for PML N, Islamist Political parties, PTI and Tahir ul Qadri. Voting rights for Ahmadiyya Muslims will not be restored and minorities and women on reserved seats will lead to more ghettoization of the marginalized. Pakistan will continue its slide into being further fragmented. Successful elections may not be fair elections. Idealogical groups that have some moderating influence over political and religious radicalization are unable to reverse this course. Pakistan will remain too big to fail but too fragmented to succeed. Free and fair elections can be successful if law and order can be ensured, single electoral lists are published and people can vote without fear for thier lives. Possible, yes, will it happen- dont know. More prayers needed.
Categories: Age, Ahmadis And Pakistan, Ahmadiyyat: True Islam, Asia, Awareness, Behaviour, Double Standard